Chapter 15. Chapter 15: Freshwater Resources

What are some of the ways that our wastewater is treated...?

Interactive Study Guide
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Guiding Question 15.4

What are some of the ways that our wastewater is treated to make it usable again or safe to release into the environment?

Why You Should Care

One of the ecosystem services (Chapter 5) we depend on is “waste recycling” through wetlands and estuaries. For those ecosystems, wastes are dissolved in freshwater that flows past decomposers and plants that need nutrients locked within. Human sewage treatment uses biomimicry (Chapter 5) to break down the nutrients and remove wastes and other pollutants before releasing it back to the environment.

Modern sewage treatment uses compartments with physical and chemical methods to maximize decomposition. The water that leaves is almost as clean as when it entered the water system.

As water scarcity becomes more common, it is more important that we produce water that is clean enough to drink from wastewater. This goal requires biological methods with constructed wetlands to return water that is cleaner than when it entered the water system.

Question Test Your Vocabulary

Fill in the blanks below.

Water considered clean enough for human consumption is called O5MhiDIh90WAOppL.

A f8KvWZNwFaxDFTv/ is an ecosystem that is permanently or seasonally flooded.

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Question 15.1

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Question 15.2

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Question 15.3

Arcata and Orange County invested in new technologies for cleaning wastewater.

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A) Orange County needed to replenish its groundwater, so injecting potable water made more water available for residents.

B) Arcata does not use UV, peroxide, or chlorine to finally purify the water enough to make it potable. The water is not potable, but if they used any of those technologies during the tertiary treatment, it could be used as potable water.